Calamateur vs.
Steve Lawson
Calamateur
Tiny Pushes Vol.2
Calamateur
The Old Fox of '45
The Gena Rowlands Band
La Merde et les Etoiles
V/A
Deep Peace
The Out_Circuit
Burn Your Scripts, Boys
Calamateur
Son of Everyone EP
Calamateur
Tiny Pushes Vol.1
The Gena Rowlands Band
(trailer) EP
Oldsolar
The Perfect Backswing EP
Tiny
Pushes Vol.2 (All the Wrong Buttons)
by Calamateur (clave009)
FREE!
- DOWNLOAD
NOW
(31.5 MB Zip file of album & artwork. MP3's @
160kbps)
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Released
March 14th 2005 For Hannah Howie
You can download this album for FREE by right-clicking here and choosing 'Save target as...'. This download is a Zip file containing the 10 tracks, artwork and a 'readme' file. The Zip file is quite large at nearly 32MB, so this is NOT recommended if you're on a slow connection. If you enjoy listening to these songs and want to support the artist please click here:
Calamateur's 'Tiny Pushes Vol.1 (How to be Childlike)' raised the bar for free music, short songs, and having more ideas in 17 minutes than many earlier artists have had in 3 triple-LP concept albums. 'Tiny Pushes Vol. 2 (All the Wrong Buttons)' shouldn't be free. With all the fuss about illegal downloads, here's a new twist for you - imagine an album so good, so consummately excellent, that even though the artist intends it to be free, you'll feel guilty you haven't paid for it. No really. Tiny Pushes Vol.2 (All the Wrong Buttons), the latest release from the increasingly prolific Calamateur, is that album. Oh, and Belong should be a global hit single. Not free.
"...the
songs...pack a real emotional resonance...high quality music..."
- Diskant.net
"...A free download, they confidently suggest that you feel guilt
at their generosity. Certainly, when my pools coupon comes up, I'll be
sending Autoclave a cheque. 4.5/5."
- Is This Music?
"...full of uplifting beats, textured samples and heartbreaking simplicity...exudes
confidence and quality in equal measure."
- whisperinandhollerin.co.uk
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1.
Upper
2. What is Love
3. Belong
4. Tick Tocker
5. Nectarine Juice
6. Mother Womber
7. Don't Understand
8. Sine Wave in My Saviour's Side
9. Akatombo (The Red Butterfly)
10. All That I Can Say
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Reviews
in full:
"
'Prolific' is a much-used pop phrase but Andrew Howie has got to the stage
where he has more songs than time. Previously he used to leave limited
edition mini-CDs lying around in service stations and pubs. Now, thanks
to the internet, he can leave his music around for anyone who fancies
it. Volume 2 raises the bar as it unexpectedly incorporates samples into
a few tracks and sets these atop the sparse set of tunes. A free download,
they confidently suggest that you feel guilt at their generosity. Certainly,
when my pools coupon comes up, I'll be sending Autoclave a cheque. 4.5/5."
- Is This Music?
"Far more restrained and almost traditional compared to Tiny Pushes
Vol.1, I think I prefer this. It seems to show a more considered approach
to songwriting, with a combination of guitar and keyboards delicately
mixing with samples and sequencing. The ten songs on here total less than
thirty minutes, meaning that none of them outstay their welcome. Whilst
Vol.1 seemed to be more about almost random snatches of tune and sound
fading in and out of a sometimes messy whole, this is more of a Complete
Album: the songs, however short, pack a real emotional resonance, and
their subtle textures remind me of Low and, at times, recent Hood records.
It's an album which is available free to download, and I can't complain
about that value. Not that this is this some kind of quickly knocked-out
freebie, it's cleanly and nicely put together, reflecting - it would seem
- a genuine altruism in trying to share some high quality music with whoever
wants to hear it."
- Diskant.net
"Serendipity
strikes again! While researching something totally unrelated on the web
the other day, I stumbled across Autoclave Records, the home of CALAMATEUR.
A micro label based partly in Beauly, in the north of Scotland, Autoclave
seem to be releasing an exciting and eclectic range of titles. As part
of Glasgow lo-fi outfit Oldsolar, Andrew Howie has previously met with
critical acclaim, but this solo project should, if there's any justice
out there, make him a household name. His 'proper' debut album “The
Old Fox Of '45” was released early last year, and these two internet-only
albums, 'Tiny Pushes Volumes 1 & 2', should cement his growing reputation.
Oh yes, and did I mention these two albums are free to download (yes,
that's free folks) from the Autoclave website. If that's not incentive
enough, I don't know what is. The first collection of songs, 'Tiny Pushes
Vol.1 (How To Be Childlike), comes in at a little over 17 minutes. Although
not a lot of time to fit 10 tracks into, Calamateur moves freely between
the Mogwai-like post-rock of 'Simpleton' and the highly infectious 'Hey
Baby', to the hushed acoustic gorgeousness of 'Everyone Is The One', to
the dark instrumental 'Open Your Eyes', which opens with contrasting samples
on capital punishment before spiralling into a bass-filled dirge. The
recently released second set of songs, 'Tiny Pushes Vol.2 (All The Wrong
Buttons), is a far more accomplished album. As with Vol.1, this collection
of songs needs to be listened as a whole, and although again on the short
side (these 10 songs run at 28 minutes) the album is full of uplifting
beats, textured samples and heartbreaking simplicity. From the vinyl scratch
of the Aphex Twin-influenced opener 'Upper', to 'Nectarine Juice', an
acoustic ambient masterpiece, to the truly stunning electro-acoustic ballads
'Belong' and 'Don't Understand', this album exudes confidence and quality
in equal measure. 'Belong', especially, deserves further mention. A piano
led masterpiece, in a similar vein to Coldplay's 'Yellow', this track
is the obvious single, and if released would surely catapult Calamateur
to national acclaim. The album closes with the wonderful 'Akatombo (The
Red Butterfly)', which sounds like an ancient electro Japanese nursery
rhyme, and the crackling, atmospheric start to 'All That I Can Say' gives
way to a string laden sing-a-long chorus that'll have have you swaying
along in seconds. Yes, there's a lot of sampling and electronic noodling
going on, and the occasional self-indulgent recording quality can irritate
at times, but there's more ideas in these two albums than Travis or Franz
Ferdinand could muster in a year. Believe me, it won't be long before
you're asking yourselves the question: “How come two albums this
good are free?” Literally and metaphorically. 8/10."
- whisperinandhollerin.co.uk
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Oldsolar
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Calamateur
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The
Gena Rowlands Band
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The Out_Circuit
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Steve
Lawson
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